Topic: Authentic Balti Curry - by Mohammed Ali Haydor

[GulfExpat]

Has anyone used this book?

Is it any good?

I'm tempted to buy it but it's only 66 pages and costs ?10!

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

[CurryOnRegardless]

?10 for a 66 page book, blimey. A bit of googling will show you this guy is associated with a certain Andy Holmes who certain members here have a particularly dim view of. Far be it for me to tell you how to spend your dosh but I think you would be better advised to try any of the recipes on here, for free, before shelling out that sort of money on what is little more than a glorified pamphlet.

Cheers
CoR

[commis]

Hi
May seam silly but is it Balti that you won't to cook? I've noticed that there can be confusion and some think Balti base is a start for BIR curries!

[JerryM]

not seen the book

i have the Lynette Baxter ISBN0 86288 275 3 (Balti, the complete cookbook) which was well worth the few quid. it's too balti for me in the main but good learning. like all books it does not give u restaurant taste.

[Unclebuck]

Theres a balti book here to download

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=2542.0

[Razor]

Hi all,

I have this book (pamphlet lol) in to be honest, I quite like it.  I've tried most of the recipes and I am really pleased with them.  I wouldn't go as far as to say they they replicate my local BIR but that may be down to the fact that this is a "Balti" cook book.  I have asked the question on this site before as to what the differences are between, BIR & Balti, and the responses are varied.  My conclusion to this question is that "Balti" food is a bit more spiced than BIR!  Take the base sauce in this book,  there are quite a few more ingredients required than the Kris Dhillon base.  The KD base produces a quite medium consistancy, which is sweet to the taste, with a curryish flavour, whereby the Balti base, is thicker and quite "soapy" to the taste, which is how the chef describes it as it should be.  On the other hand, the base meat/chicken in the balti book is beautiful and can be eaten on its own as a mildly spiced curry, whereby the base meat/chicken in the KD book, is quite bland.  And lastly, the spice blend from the Balti book has a lot of different spices included, far more than most spice blends that I have come across.  There are nine different herbs/spices in this blend although the main dishes only require 1 or 2 teaspoons of the blend.

Just, another point wiyth the KD books, the main recipes require no additional garlic, which I find really strange! I know some members of this site believe that the KD books are a step backwards and I am wondering if the final dishes are not upto BIR standards, as I have not tried one yet and only used the base!

Anyway, I think the Balti book is a good book but probably not worth a tenner!!

Ray

[JerryM]

I am wondering if the final dishes are not upto BIR standards

Razor,

they aren't. they are a good starting point or point of reference. using Secret Santa's suggestion of replacing the "garam" with currypowder or even mix powder makes a big difference but still a gap. the best recipes "closest" are off this site.

[Razor]

Hi Jerry,

That's what I suspected.  The final recipes are for 3-4 people which again is not what Im looking for.  With that said, I have used the KD base, with the Bruce Edwards spice blend and the Balti book pre-cooked meat and had some outstanding results, really close.  I guess that's what it's all about, trying out different combo's until you find one that fits!!

Ray

[adriandavidb]

Has anyone used this book?

Yep, some if it's pretty good, some average!  I particularly like the Bombay Spud recipe - top notch!

[Mikka1]

Is this an Indian Chef or just another cooking book please?